Award winning Oriya author donates ponzi firm's Rs.10 lakh honorarium

  |   29 October, 2014   |   780   |   3980

Kendriya Sahitya Academy award winning Oriya author Manoj Das has donated Rs.10 lakh that he received as honorarium from the tainted chit fund company, Seashore Group, for acting as advisor to its two literary magazines, to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.



Eighty year old Das, best known for his short stories, took the step following criticism about his association with the ponzi company in certain quarters. The Seashore Group is currently under the CBI scanner and its chairman-cummanaging director, Prashant Das, has been in jail for the last few months.



The author has maintained that he was unaware of the illegal activities of the group. His association with the group was questioned by a newspaper columnist and by some others on social media websites Das. who now lives in Puducherry as an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, said over the phone that he was hurt by the criticism.